Broken Hope: A New Start
by marylaveen
Summary: Everything was good after the Giant War. Percy was excited to move to New Rome with Annabeth when everything fell apart. Annabeth was killed by a drunk driver. Concerned about how broken Percy seemed to become Hecate offered him a job hoping it might heal the wounded hero. She asked him to go protect and train a hero so similar to himself in exchange for a new life.
1. Before the Story

**AN: I will not do this often, but you deserve to know what you are getting into. This a quick summery of events before the story begins.**

Everything after the giant war was great. Piper and Jason were happy at camp, Frank and Hazel were busy whipping the Roman legion into shape with Reyna, Leo returned with Calypso six weeks after the war ended. Everyone was angry at him for tricking them, but the anger lasted long enough to hit him, then everyone went into hugging. Percy and Calypso had a rather awkward reunion, one which Annabeth carefully monitored. Nico and Will were constantly spending time together, yet doggedly insisting that they didn't like each other _that_ way. No one was happier than Percy and Annabeth however. They spent as much time together as they could. Their only concern was the consistent nightmares of Tartarus. During the day they could pretend to forget, and focus on fixing up Camp Half-Blood, as it had suffered a great deal of damage when Gaea awoke, and training campers. At night however their dreams haunted them. They would wake up screaming and sick to their stomachs. The only thing that comforted them was each other. So, they began sleeping together. Not, like that, they had decided to wait until they moved to New Rome together, and had their own apartment, where they wouldn't be interrupted, but every night they slept in each others arms.

The reunion with Sally and Paul was painful for Percy, as his mother was not pleased that he had been gone so long. After she got done scolding him however, she gathered him into her arms and they cried together. When he found out that he was going to be a big brother, he was over joyed. Paul had managed to get him back into Goode High School, and so, if he could only keep his grades up then everything would be perfect. He had a full ride to the University of New Rome and he and Annabeth had started planning for a life together.

A month and a half after Leo returned, Percy was in the full swing of school, working his hardest to get the grades he needed to keep his scholarship when everything fell apart.

It was a chilly afternoon. Annabeth was walking from Sally's apartment to get herself a cup of coffee at a nearby Starbucks when a young man, 16 years old did something that would change countless lives forever. His girlfriend has just broken up with him and feeling sorry for himself he got himself drunk on his dads beer. When he was well and truly hammered he decided it would be a good idea to go over to his best friends place and crash. He hopped in the car and headed out. Despite it being afternoon, with good visibility, he didn't notice the blond girl crossing the street. She tried to dodge, but not even demigod reflexes could save her from a car going fifty miles per hour. She was dead on impact.

Everyone was devastated. Annabeth's dad and stepmom quickly flew out, and both simply broke down at the sight of her body. Her stepmom couldn't stop blaming herself, saying that if they had been closer it wouldn't have happened. Everyone at camp was devastated as well. Chiron openly wept for days. They burned her shroud in a beautiful ceremony that was attended by all the gods. Athena was livid at the drunk driver for taking away her favorite child, the daughter who had restored her honor with the Athena Parthenos. Sally and Paul were devastated as well, for they had begun to see her as a daughter, and hoped to formalize the situation one day.

The only one who didn't react with tears and rants was Percy. He went quiet. For days after it happened he didn't speak a word. Only after her memorial at camp did he start to speak again, but when he did he wasn't the carefree boy they all remembered. He was quiet and distant. He pulled out of high school and started working full time for the camp. Not in the camp mind, he couldn't bear to be in the place where they had met, no he started running errands for the camp. He collected demigod children, he checked up on satyrs, and he acted as messenger between the camps.

His friends and family were desperately worried about him, his new coldness and his general lack of emotions. They did everything they could to cheer him up. The Stolls played pranks, Clarisse tried to beat him up, Jason and Leo tried to take him out for dinner, Piper tried to talk to him, Reyna, Hazel and Frank all tried to talk to him. Nico told him that she was in Elysium and was waiting for him. His mom tried to get him to express emotions telling him he had to cry, even his dad tried, but nothing worked.

Meanwhile on the other side of the world and ten year old boy lay in a cupboard under the stairs crying silently. He cried because his cousin Dudley had beaten him up again, he cried because his Aunt Petunia had screamed herself hoarse at him for being found on the school roofs, and his uncle had tanned his backside for the same reason. Above all he cried because he was truly, desperately lonely. In all his memory he had never had a friend, let alone a family who cared about him. Someone who cared about his hopes and goals, who praised him for success, rather than yelling at him for "trying to make your cousin look stupid, eh boy", who held him when he dreamed of flashing green lights and a woman screaming.

**So, if you somehow missed it up to this point this is clearly a crossover story. Just as clearly I do not own Harry Potter or Percy Jackson. The plot will largely follow the HP books, but what doesn't is mine. I will introduce very few characters, so all the credit goes to Uncle Rick and J. K. Rowling. Most likely this will be my only disclaimer, but it goes for the entire book.**

**Also the cover art is not mine.**


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Camp

Percy pulled up to the camp with a young demigod in the backseat of the van.

"Come on kid," he said, his voice flat.

"You sure I'll be safe here?" Amy asked. She was a eleven year old girl with blonde hair and grey eyes, a daughter of Athena he was certain.

"Yeah, I told you, the camp is protected by magic that keeps the monsters out and you'll be able to learn how to defend yourself," Percy said. He climbed out of the van and stalked toward the Big House listening as the girl scampered up beside him.

When he reached the porch he saw Chiron and Mr. D playing their usual game.

"This is Amy," Percy said, gesturing behind him. "I gave her the brief rundown about gods and monsters, but she should probably see the orientation film anyway."

"Good work my boy," Chiron said, moving away from the table to greet Amy. "Welcome to camp Amy, I am Chiron and this is Mr. D."

Ignoring Mr. D's response Percy headed toward his cabin. Chiron called after him, "Percy, I'm sure you need to rest after retrieving Amy, but if you would come by the Big House tomorrow at nine I have a proposition for you."

"Will do Chiron," Percy said, not even looking back.

Nico watched as Percy walked into his cabin and slammed the door behind him. He was worried about his cousin. He had tried talking to Percy, he had even carried messages back and forth between him and Annabeth in Elysium several times hoping it would cheer him up, but nothing seemed to break Percy's despair.

"Nico," a voice called from behind him. Nico turned around to find Will standing there.

"Hey Will," he said, looking back at Cabin 3.

"You've got your worried face on Neeks," Will said, putting his hand on Nico's shoulder.

"Yeah, it's Percy. I want to help him, he's one of my best friends and my cousin to boot, but I don't know what to do."

Will turned Nico around to face him, meeting Nico's eyes with his own. "Nico," he said softly, "There isn't anything any of us can do. There is nothing physically wrong with him, it's emotional, and you can't force him to talk. You should know that better than anyone."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Come on Neeks, you went through a phase like this yourself, after Bianca died."

"I know, but Percy is the one who pulled me out of it."

"Yes, but he only was able to do so once you went to him for help. As much as we care, we can't force Percy to get better if he doesn't want to. All we can do is let him know we are here for him if he wants, and that we care about him. And all of us, you, me, the seven, Reyna, Chiron, all of us have let him know that already."

"I know, I just... I hate not doing anything."

Will pulled Nico into a hug and said in his ear, "I know." Pulling back Will grabbed Nico's hand, and dragged him along.

"Where are we going Will?" Nico protested, laughing.

"To the infirmary, I want to see how your energy levels are, and if they've stabilized yet. I thought they would months ago, but they're still erratic. You really did a number on yourself, transporting the Athena Parthenos halfway across the world."

Nico laughed again, and let Will pull him into the infirmary, putting all thoughts of Percy to the back of his mind for the moment.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Quest

When Percy woke up the next morning he lay there panting in the darkness. It had been another dream of Tartarus of course. He had begun to get them under control before _she _died, but now...now they came every night. He let out a soft groan and looked at the clock, it read 4:13. Wonderful, it was still the middle of the night. Despite the hour Percy got up and started getting ready for the day, he knew there was no point in trying to go back to sleep.

When he was dressed he headed down to the practice arena. As Apollo's chariot slowly rose over the world, and pink light began to stain the sky, slowly fading into orange, then blue Percy practiced. He pushed himself as hard as could, trying to drive the memories from his mind by working his body to the brink of collapse. His sword flashed in the chill morning air and dummy after dummy fell, but it wasn't enough, it was never enough to make him forget about _her._

When the sun was fully up, and the rest of camp was beginning to stir Percy sheathed Riptide, put it back in his pocket, and went to shower.

At breakfast he sat alone at his father's table, trying to ignore the echos of a woman's laughter ringing in his mind. When he was done eating, he walked over to the Athena table.

"Hello Amy, I see you were claimed."

"Hi, Percy. Yeah, I was claimed at campfire last night. Isn't it great?"

A ghost of a smile flashed across Percy's face.

"I'm glad you found your family Amy, try not to get into too much trouble," Percy said, then walked away heading toward the Big House.

Climbing the steps of the Big House Percy wondered what his next assignment would be. Mostly it had been collecting new campers, but he'd also done some unusual things like rescuing a satyr from a jail cell, after he had been accused of kidnapping the demigod he had been sent to rescue. What had made that so interesting was the dragon on their tail. A dragon of all things. He'd also done some errands for some of the gods. His least favorite being delivering a box of perfume from Ares to Aphrodite. He couldn't get the smell of the perfume out of his nose for a month.

He walked into the Big House and stopped in surprise. In front of him stood Lady Hecate.

Bowing slightly Percy murmured, "Lady Hecate." Part of him rebelled at the movement, but he didn't care enough to say something with any bite to it. He knew that once he would have said something snarky, but ever since _she _died he was too dead inside to sass anyone. He supposed that could be a good thing when dealing with gods.

"Perseus, you are early." Hecate's voice somehow seemed to come from all around him. Hades, he hated this woman. He knew she was Hazels patron, and supposedly regretted what had happened in the second Titan war, but still.

"I assume you need me for something my lady?" Percy asked.

"Yes, come in and sit down." Percy followed Hecate to a chair. He sat down across the ping pong table from her.

"What errand do you wish me to do my lady?" He tried to bring himself to ask why she wouldn't just send one of her own children, or Hazel, but the words wouldn't form. They seemed to sink into the blackness in his mind.

"What I need from you Perseus is no simple errand. It is a quest, and dangerous quest, that could take up to ten years to complete."

"Percy, my name is Percy, and why in the Hades would I accept a quest like that?"

"Because, Perseus, in accepting this quest you can get something you want desperately."

A surge of hope flooded through him, the only thing he wanted was to be with _her _again. "Annabeth," he croaked.

"No," Hecate said firmly, but her eyes showed a surprising amount of sorrow, "no Perseus, I'm afraid that the dead must stay dead. No, I can give you something else."

"There isn't anything else I want," Percy said the flood of hope sinking with the tase of bile.

"What I am offering Perseus is a new life," Hecate said.

"How will this give me a new life?" Percy asked.

"After Rome fell the gods became more and more reclusive, losing most of their power. There are of course still signs of the impact we have had on history, but our power wained. All of us dealt with this in different ways. Many gods simply accepted it as inevitable and chose to focus on their children, manipulating them. I... I was not content with that. Around fifteen hundred years ago I blessed a mortal man with the ability of magic. I gave him, what has come to be called, a magic core. This is a power source within him that allowed him to connect with and manipulate the Mist.

"I didn't expect that the power would last beyond Merlin, that was his name, but it turned out that his children inherited the power core as well. He had three sons, Antioch, Cadmus, and Ignotus. All three had the power core. They each married and had children, and those children had children with some of my children. From these unions a new race was born.

"These beings are still mortals, but they cannot truly be called humans. This new race is that of witches and wizards." Hecate paused, looking to see Percy's reaction.

"Are these witches and wizards still around?" Percy asked calmly. But he didn't feel calm, he felt excited. He didn't know what to do with emotion, it was so foreign to him these days.

"Indeed, there are many lines that connect back to those of Merlin, but many more children are born with a magical core."

"You continue to give children a magical core, who aren't part of this race?"

"Just as all gods do, I draw power from my domain. These witches and wizards fuel my domain, and give me strength. Mostly it is random who I give the magic core to, but occasionally I will choose a special child to bless. Or give the gift to the child of someone who has done something for me.

Percy found himself tapping his fingers against his leg, his old habit whenever he was thinking hard. The damn ADHD made it hard to sit still.

"My lady, as interesting as this is, how will this provide me with a new life?"

"A war is coming. A civil war among wizards. This will not only harm my power, but many mortals will be caught in this war."

"So, you want to send me back to war." Percy frowned. He had already fought and won two wars and had no interest in fighting another one.

"Not exactly," Hecate said, "There is a prophesy of a hero, what I want you to do is protect him, and train him, so that when his time comes he is able to do what he needs to."

"What makes you think I can even do that?"

"Who better than you? You know exactly how it feels to be born to a prophesy, and have to take the mantle of hero and lead a war as a child. You understand the dangers of war, both the physical and the emotional dangers and can guide the boy to have the strength of character to accomplish his task."

"And what exactly is his task?" Percy asked. Hecate handed him a folder.

"All the information about this quest is in here. I want you to read through it and then decide. I will be back in three days. Do not disappoint me." Then she was gone in a flash of godly light.

"Why she couldn't just tell me herself..." Percy muttered, looking down at the folder. There was a name on the outside of it. **Harry Potter. **


End file.
